I am the Righteousness of God?
“God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”
2 Corinthians 5:21
Your righteousness is perhaps the most important truth you can possibly understand as God’s child. Sure, knowing you are loved unconditionally is crucial, and realizing your spirit is perfect is significant. Believing the truth, “where sin abounds, grace abounds much more,” that too, is paramount in our faith.
Among these certainties, God making His home in our spirits for good–where we go He goes–this epiphany will also change how we view ourselves. But knowing we are righteous?…Forget about it, this changes everything.
When we find out that because of what Jesus did at the Cross, we are just as righteous as He is, our idea of ourselves makes a hard left. The trajectory of our lives and mindsets branch off into a previously unknown area, actually knowing that we are the righteousness of God!
“I am the righteousness of God.”
“I am the righteousness of God.”
“I am the righteousness of God!”
Repeating this to myself was a regular thing for me. It’s hard to believe. It even sounds arrogant, but it’s not–it’s the truth!
“How in the world is this possible?” I’d chuckle, smile, and shake my head. I already knew the answer, but it was still fun to ask myself such a powerful, rhetorical question. It was Jesus! Jesus had caused me to become the righteousness of God! It wasn’t because of a single righteous thing I had ever done, or ever will do! IT WAS A GIFT! OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS IS A GIFT FROM GOD THROUGH OUR FAITH IN JESUS!
What does righteousness even mean? It means right standing, it means justified, it means there’s nothing wrong with you! NOTHING! Your identity is right! Accepting this truth, that your spiritual identity is right with the Creator of the universe? My goodness, talk about a shot in the arm!
Now, to be clear, I’m not talking about faking it ’til you make it. I’m not talking about the notion of “I’ll be righteous with God when I get to heaven.” NO WAY! I’m talking about now! Right now, I am the righteous of God! And so are you, if you believe you are, through Christ.
When a self-centered person hears such a claim, they will immediately think of my sins, “How can you say such a thing?! You better be careful, Matt, lest you eat your words and sin! You’re not perfect in word or deed!”
Exactly! Even more proof of just how powerful the Cross actually is! Even more proof of the infinite magnitude of God’s grace! I can’t out-sin my righteousness! WOOT! (See Romans 5:20, Romans 7:25, 10:14). No wonder the gospel means GOOD NEWS!
Even when we make mistakes we are still the righteousness of God! Yep! What in the Sam Hill do you think Jesus died for?! OUR HELP?! No flippin’ way! He doesn’t need our help! He didn’t need it back then and He doesn’t need it now! He did a stand up job making us right with God on His own!
I’ll tell you what arrogance truly is: thinking we can possibly cause ourselves to become righteous. Thinking that what we do and don’t do tips the scales in our favor to stay righteous, or to get more righteous. How dare we do such a thing! This vain mindset spits on the face of Christ on the Cross, and says, “It’s not good enough! I’ll make it good enough!”
It’s idiotic. It’s demonic. It’s selfish. It’s unrighteous…What Jesus did was good enough. He made us righteous, right now, and He doesn’t need our help. He gives us this righteousness for free at our choosing–not our taking, but our choosing. We choose to receive a gift, we don’t take it. We simply open up our hands and say, “Thank you so much.”
So today, my friends, know this: If you believe that Jesus Christ is the Savior of your sins you are the righteousness of God! I know it feels weird to say, but this is the truth that will skyrocket your confidence in who you really are! YOU ARE RIGHT WITH GOD! Stop focusing on what’s wrong, and focus on what’s right! YOU! Say it with me, “I am the righteousness of God!” and believe it because this is the absolute truth!
A prayer for you: Father, thank you for teaching me who I really am. Through your Spirit, I’ve learned just how amazing a feat Calvary actually was–Jesus accomplishing my righteousness! I am forever grateful! I didn’t deserve it, but now that I have it, I will embrace it! Keep teaching me how to get rid of my false humility as I speak the truth of what you’ve done. Right now, I lift up all who are reading this, directly to you. Dad, so many of them have been incorrectly taught that they are dirty, wicked people. But if they believe Jesus has saved them, they are none of those things. They are completely righteous with you! Please begin to transform their minds with this truth as they live their righteousness out! Teach them just how AWESOME they really are because of their faith in Jesus! REVEAL THEIR RIGHTEOUSNESS! Teach them more and more about who they are in Christ! In His name, amen.
This devotional is from 60 Days for Jesus, Volume 3. Get your copy here!